Tweaking and testing

This week I conducted more playtesting. The results are explained in the tissue test post. But a lot of our concerns were solidifed, and going forward we need to work on balancing and somehow showing the players what each color soul does. A suggestion was a small chart on the side of the screen. We are still getting mixed results for auto/manual rotate.

Beginning UI Design

I have been doing concepts for the UI elements. Specifically the counter for the score and souls currently held and the points they will award. That along with a design for a charge bar. Since we're going with auto turning (?), the only bar that needs to be addressed is the Power bar. After running that by the team we could align the final designs of the UI to match the game's aesthetic.

Tissue Test

Over the past week or two, we’ve been able to get a good amount of playtesting in. Due to some of our group members being in the actual Playtesting class, this process was made a bit easier.

We’ve done a few iterations on how to approach the horizontal rotation and aiming for the fishing cast, and we’ve come down to either manual rotation (left and right using A and D, respectively) or an auto rotation where the game stays true to the original two-button requirement. This was one of the major things we playtested for. We’ve had almost all of our playtesters try both modes, and have gotten mixed feedback. In most cases, we started the players out using the auto-rotate, and they wondered what it would be like to play manually. The interesting thing is that one would think that manual would actually make the game easier, but this wasn’t always the case. We found that players actually took more time to figure out their aim and ended up wasting time when playing manually. Because of this, we are more than likely going to stick to the auto-rotate.

We also got some feedback that it is pretty difficult to tell what each soul in the pool does. To fix this, we’re going to add some sort of asset to the souls to make it more obvious what you’re reeling in. We also briefly discussed having some other kind of visual feedback when a special soul is reeled in.

Last week, we added in a few more souls to the pool - one being a penalty soul which cuts 10 seconds out of your limit; the other being one that adds 10 seconds. This added some flavor to the game, but also a few issues. Some of the testers casted out into a group of penalty souls, and instantly lost because of it. Others were able to make the game last in the upwards of 10 minutes by collecting a ton of bonus time souls. The best way to fix this would be by strictly tuning down the effects of both souls, as they were initially both set at 10 seconds for testing purposes when we first implemented them.

We got mixed, but mainly positive, reviews about the aesthetic of the game. Most people loved the overall look of the game, but a few people thought that it was a bit dark, and that the light contrast in the water made the Reaper easily forgettable.

To sum things up, this is a list of changes and tuning fixes we are going to work on:

-Stick to auto-rotate, or make manual a setting in-game

-Create some sort of assets to make the effects of the souls distinguishable

-Tune and refine penalty souls

-Sharpen up pathing on the souls

-Work on light and color contrast

-Refine the border mesh around the pool

-Smooth out the reeling mechanic, as sometimes the scythe will get stuck in the mesh

-Tone down or refine spawning habits of certain souls, so that insta-Game Over doesn’t

happen when reeling in a red pool

-Change a few UI elements and remove the old Strength/Horizontal variable counter

from the screen

-Fix collision on souls so they don’t leave the map (ties into refining the mesh)

Solidifying an Art Style

During this week, we have been working to create a unified art style for the game. Originally we were going to go for realistic textures for the environment but after much thinking we decided to go for more of a painted texture style using the program substance painter. Along with deciding an art style, we worked on making a rough scythe model as well as creating the environment terrain in Maya to make it easier to texture along with easier time to create hit boxes.

Below are some of the art references that I really enjoyed and show what kind of look we will be going for.

More sound effects to be implemented

More souls came up as we design the game, including time increasing/decreasing souls, and reeling in faster, so I need to thought about what kind of sound effects would be needed. Other sound effects are finalized, and background music is still working in progress.

Playtesting and again

This week, for me at least, was dedicated to playtesting the two different iterations of the game and getting feedback.  This was actually an assignment for the playtesting class, but it was obviously helpful for our class.  A few notes from the session: people were split on controls.  Everyone seemed to like the manual controls, but people seemed to either love or hate the automatic controls.  Also, souls and combos were not very well received.  Or rather, it was hard to tell what they were and what was happening.  We are currently iterating on them to make it much easier to tell.  Lastly, people liked the aesthetic of our game and the way the gameplay contrasted it a lot.  There was only one negative comment but it was more related to controls than it was to actual aesthetic and gameplay.

More Mechanics

I've worked more to make the game a bit more compelling in response to recent playtests.
As per the suggestion of Brian and other playtesters, there are now more types of souls and schools of souls that are designed in a specific way. These schools are meant to reinforce an intentional risk/reward relationship. Reeling in souls now also takes time, and is no longer instant. A new soul type can speed up your reeling temporarily.

Basic sounds complete, needs polish

Basic sound effects are implemented into the game, a few are still somewhat placeholders, but I will continue working on the final effects, which is set to be due by next week.

As for background music, I will not be able to produce my own, so I will either try to find someone who can mix music, or obtain a license to use the music and possibly remix them.

Art Stuff and Plans

I updated the models I made, still looking for uses for them, the terrain looks good enough at the moment. I've done sketches for UI concepts, will have to run them past the programmers to see if they're do-able. Planning on making some 2d animations to show off how the UI will move and react to the game.

Playtesting

This week I focused a lot on playtesting the game primarily. Testing the auto and manual mechanics, the visuals (including feedback), and watching for bugs to be fixed. Finding the best feel and combination of it all will be the test for upcoming weeks.

Environment and Additional Details

Over the weekend I created the overall environment for our game consisting of a mountainous terrain with a lake in the middle. We felt this was the most appropriate look for the environment because it conveyed a feeling of death and somberness but also keeping a sense of peacefulness with the use of the night skybox and aesthetics of the souls. I also finished making the buildings and simple textures for them to be placed underneath the lake along with some pillars to be placed around the lake to make it feel like a portal to the real world. Next step is to refine the objects in terms of detail and textures as well as modify the terrain to add some additional challenges for the player.

Blog 2

This week most of us got outside playtests on our game so far. We got a lot of new art assets and environmental things put into our newer builds and got a good amount of complements on how it looked so far. I spent a bit of time getting particle effects to work on the souls and scythe of the reaper, and got some feedback on our two builds. This week I'm going to work on a new "penalty soul" that will either reduce time left or reduce score when hooked. After that, I'm going to work on some more bonus souls and tweak numbers on the current ones.

Production Plan

It is always important to have a plan and be prepared. I've built a production plan on Trello that categorizes tasks by Week and person(s) responsible for the task. You'll notice almost every week has playtesting and QA - it's important to get polish in this game, and that takes time and dedication to the details.

The plan is available at this board: https://trello.com/b/E3tkCP4L/reelgrimfish
If you need to be manually granted access email me at jon.r.sayer@gmail.com and I will get you access to the board.

Creating sound effects, background Music

Placeholder background music is complete. It's copyright free, so it can be used if people like it. Else, I can either compose or find something else I can use. Various sound effects also implemented into the game, including the soul sound effect, chains, etc.

More sound effects coming for next week, fixing the chain sound effect, or scrap it (depending on the direction of the game). Will create more sound effects as needed, and help teams with concepts of the game as the core mechanics isn't set in stone.

The profound effect of pace

After 2 feedback sessions, it's clear that the tone and pace of the game need to be more concrete. Just a simple change from a fast pace to a slower one could change the game dramatically, from a frantic experience to a slower, meditative one. This is a point John Groot was helping to make abundantly clear.

It is our plan to tweak many of the parameters of the game in regard to pace and come to a conclusion through playtesting and iteration which approach feels best. There is certainly a possibility for middle ground, in which the game is a bit slower, but big satisfying combo moments can happen to keep things interesting. Additionally, this could allow the player to approach the game to their own preference, where they can choose to maximize score quickly or kick back and relax.

Strength and Reeling in

In thinking about prototyping, we were all given something that we were to do.  I was given making a display of the power/direction and making the casting system work.  It wasn't too difficult (I over-thank it way too much and someone else showed me the error of my ways) so it went fairly smoothly.  We also iterated on what we all made.  A few notable changes: the display of power and direction went from a number on screen to a bar that better showed off where the hook would go.  I also made a few changes to the catching of souls so you could actually reel in and keep playing, which is implemented.

Combining and Combonatorics

The past two weeks, I've swapped around what I've been doing a few times. On the design front, I worked on getting our builds combined into a single prototype, which proved to take more time than anticipated. Before that, in week one, I spent some time on the powerpoint and discord discussions, but my main contribution so far was working to get our builds combined and making a sound script for the prototype.

Brainstorming and Concept Work

It's been a fairly busy weekend for me due to work so I wasn't able to work on too much sadly. However, I've been looking at various art styles and concepts for our environment to get a general feel of where I want to go with it. It'll be fairly simplistic when it comes down to textures. It'll mostly rely on some ghostly, smoke particle effects that glow to make it really feel like youre in a place that the grim reaper would live in instead of just a normal lake. Implemention of fog, other particle effects, and color are going to be the most important things to be focused on. Here are some images I found looking around that have a similar feel that I was going for.

In order to liven it up just a bit so that it doesn't just feel like so moody, I might go about adding some additional elements such as fireflies floating around to give contrast to the mostly blue world.

I'm looking to create parts of the environment by Thursday.

More Concept Work

I am still working on different concept pieces to get a feel for the game's visual style. I do not have a very clear picture of the game in my head so sharing more and more concepts with the team should help us all understand what the game will eventually look like.
What I plan on doing next week is getting designs for the Grim Reaper himself, that could be a good starting point for the rest of the designs to be built around him.

Sound stuff

Looking for placement sounds will be the initial phase for our prototype, and later on we will use more refined sounds for our game. I was debating whether to use a casual background music where the grim reaper is just doing his daily job (which is fishing for souls to bring to the underworld, of course), or go with a eerie ambiance. 

For next week, I will attempt to create/edit some sound effects that can be used for our game. 

Starting Design

Trying to balance concepts with mechanics and visuals. Thinking of a ways to get our theme across in an understandable way, while innovating on mechanics as well. Changing the way the meters work a little, and changing the setting of the game as well based on feedback from the first pitch.

Design Design and More Design

As a programmer and designer, my work will be divided up evenly.  However, since this past week has been all about concepts and getting the pitch down, it's been all about design and figuring out what works for everyone.  A lot of stuff hinged on what made sense and what would be feasible.  After Tuesday, we edited our ideas a bit to be more in line with the suggestions we received during our pitch of the game.  We edited how the game would look, and also changed the core mechanic of the meters, now making it more timing based and skillful as opposed to just waiting.  As for the next week, programming will take the front seat, for me at least.  As the prototype is due next week, I will be focused on helping get the mechanics working.  The power and direction meter/meters may provide a bit of difficulty, but it shouldn't be anything too bad.

There's a lot of fish - how might you build it all?

Fishing involves fish. And water. Lots and lots of water. 

What initially seems like a pretty simple environment quickly becomes much harder to accomplish due to the fact that water has fairly complicated physics.

Thankfully, accurate water physics are not essential for a game about the Grim Reaper. Instead, we've floated some approaches to bypassing water physics and the problems it poses: 

1. Water physics is ignored and instead is rendered as a flat plane with an animated texture with the code causing the hook to drift around a little bit (randomly) within the water. It works, and certainly would for a prototype, but it might not end up looking super nice.

2. The Water is instead approached completely differently - with the "water" becoming this sort of ethereal nebula-looking body - It bypasses the need for surface physics (and waves) and supports the visual theme of souls, ghosts, and the abstract concepts of death. Potential pitfalls of this approach are actually rendering it (Using fog rendering techniques is a possibility, though potentially difficult) and causing player confusion. Some players might wonder where the water is or understand that what they're looking at is the "water." It would need to be like water, but entirely like it. It might cause more problems than it solves. 

The rest of the environment can be done with meshes of rocks - rock meshes are extremely versatile and they also support the visual theme. 

While it may seem like an overly granular and specific question for this early in the process, I think it makes sense to approach these ideas quickly, since they might require special attention. The two solutions listed above, for instance, are not interchangeable and have different technical, art, and production demands. Understanding the "development costs" if you will of these solutions will be essential to forming a proper production plan. 

Initial Phases of our Art Design

When deciding on how we wanted the art style of our game, we were thinking of ways to efficiently and effectively create the appearance of a soul that the player would be fishing for. We decided we would be creating this game in a 3d environment and our souls would essentially be 3d spheres. The different types of souls would be differentiated by particle effects that trail behind or pulse around the 3d spheres. We may give the souls different shapes as well depending on how much time we have left. Here is a photo of some of the different soul designs as well as a design of what the environment may potentially look like. 

-Corey Hansen